Advantages of Custom Software Development
Advantages of Custom Software Development
This process provides a ton of benefits for the would-be user, but here are the top 7 advantages this type of software can provide to a company:
1. Custom Software is Tailored To Your Brand’s Exact Needs And Specifications
The most obvious advantage bespoke software provides is that it is developed to a brand’s exact needs.
Ready-made software may have some features that could be helpful for your brand. But because it is meant to service a wide variety of businesses, it is highly unlikely it will have all the functionalities you will need to reach peak productivity.
However, custom software development is done only with your business in mind, which means it can include every requirement you need to succeed.
2. Customized Software Can Be Scaled Easily
Because personalized software is built for specific businesses instead of a wide range, it can easily integrate with business and scale as the brand expands.
Brands can also better anticipate their needs and communicate them to the custom software development companies they are working with.
Then, outsourced software developers can build the software so it can accommodate that growth down the road.
3. Personalized Software Can Actually Have Lower Costs Over Time
Read-ymade software solutions may seem cheaper at first. However, it is important to remember that the low, low fee businesses initially see is typically a recurring cost — whether that is monthly or yearly.
Therefore, businesses who are searching for a long-term solution often find that they shell out far more money than they anticipated with ready-made software.
Although customized software solutions have higher upfront costs for development and execution, they don’t require long-term recurring fees, which often make them far less expensive over time and that’s not even counting the likely increase in return on investment!
4. Custom Software Belongs To Your Company And No One Else
Although ready-made software may seem like an easier solution, it is important to remember that — with off-the-shelf software — you don’t actually own the product you’re using.
Instead, you are paying regular fees to use someone else’s product, making you beholden to their rules, regulations, features, functionalities, updates, and more.
Plus, if you ever decide to stop using their software, you don’t retain anything. Your software license simply stops working.
However, when you invest the money you would otherwise spend on licensing on custom software development instead, you’ll end with a product or software that is completely yours — meaning you control it in its entirety.
In other words, there are no surprises on the part of the software development provider. They just make the software, you own it.
Think about renting vs owning a house or a car, for example. Yes, many people prefer to rent and that is a valid choice when the budget is tight or you are in a situation where you don’t need to own the product.
Maybe your company just needs the software for a specific, one-time use. Why pay a license for something you are only going to use once or twice?
That said, if the product is something your business will use continuously, why not invest in your own custom software?
5. Custom Software Can Be Maintained For As Long As You Need
Another big difference between off-the-shelf and custom software is that there is no limit to how long your custom software solution will be maintained. That is not the case with commercial, ready-made software.
This comes down to the ownership of the software. Since your company doesn’t own ready-made software, but only rent it from the company that makes it and sells it (such as, for example, Microsoft for Office 365), then that company ultimately has the final say.
Naturally, this puts the company using commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) software at a severe disadvantage. Basically, if the company that developed it decides to stop making and supporting the software, there is not much you can do about it.
If that happens, your only option is to switch to another software and that alone takes time and money.
When you are using bespoke software, on the other hand, you can simply contact the software development company that created it for you in the first place and ask for a specific update or modification and they will get on it.
This can go on for as long as you want to use that software and you are not tied down to any licenses.
6. Custom Software Is Better Equipped To Deal With External Security Threats
With any kind of software, security is a big talking point. Especially when it comes to something that might collect and store data about your company, employees, or customers.
Data threats are abundant and the damage they can cause to the company’s finances and reputation are often beyond repair.
Since off-the-shelf software is often widely used and often by hundreds of different firms, hackers will go at it more.
That doesn’t mean they won’t attack custom software, on the opposite. They will, but only in a situation where they are specifically targeting that company.
Another reason why custom software is more secure than off-the-shelf one is that hackers will be more familiar with and will therefore already be aware of any vulnerabilities.
Of course, regular security updates and patches should deal with that problem, but they do so only for the more obvious threats and even then, hackers always tend to find a way to find another vulnerability they can exploit.
In the end, that’s just a never-ending struggle between cyber-security professionals on one side and cyber-criminals on the other and commercial software is the battleground.
7. Bespoke Software is Easier to Integrate Into The Company Workflow
How different departments in a company communicate and work together will nine times out of ten determine the success of that business.
For example, production will have its own operations, which will be different from marketing, which in turn does its own thing compared to human resources.
In a way, each department runs in some kind of isolation.
However, if one department is using a certain app, that app needs to be integrated — or, in other words, coordinated — with other departments.
For example, HR and accounting need to work together to calculate staff salaries or sales and marketing on leads.
The key to such seamless integration lies in collaboration and data exchange and that is exactly what a good custom software solution should provide.